Dead Harvest by Chris F. Holm

“Jim Thompson meets John Milton in this thrilling supernatural riff
on the old collections racket. This gripping supernatural adventure
gives a whole new meaning to ‘possession is nine-tenths of the law.'”Charles Ardai, Edgar and Shamus Award-winning author, publisher of Hard Case Crime

“The Collector series gets off to a strong start with this noir urban fantasy,
a very promising first novel.” – Locus Magazine

Meet Sam Thornton. He collects souls.

Sam’s job is to collect the souls of the damned, and ensure they are dispatched to the appropriate destination. But when he’s sent to collect the soul of a young woman he believes to be innocent of the horrific crime that’s doomed her to Hell, he says something no Collector has ever said before.

“No.”

File Under: Urban Fantasy
[ Souled Out | Damned If You Don’t | Collector Mania | On The Run ]

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Praise and Reviews:

“Chris F. Holm clearly had both angels and devils watching over him as he wrote Dead Harvest. Thrilling, riveting and hardboiled as hell, this stunning debut still manages to be incredibly soulful. If I could recommend one book to everyone this year, this would be it.”
– Anthony, Ellis & Macavity Award-nominated author Hilary Davidson

“Get a nicotine patch cause you’ll be smokin’ by the end of Dead Harvest. A surreal page-turner where crime meets goth meets fantasy meets horror, strips the elements of everything you knew about storytelling, and creates a new genre called Chris F. Holm!”
– Frank Bill, author of Crimes in Southern Indiana

“With Dead Harvest, Chris F. Holm splices genres in a way few authors can pull off, in the process delivering an action-packed rollercoaster of a novel that will enthrall thriller and fantasy readers alike. A superb debut from a talent to watch.”
– Stuart Neville, LA Times Book Prize and Spinetingler Award winner

“Sam Spade meets The Matrix. Punchy, fast-paced and finely plotted.”
– Mike Shevdon, author of the Courts of the Feyre series

“Holm’s touch is deft and his language surefooted, a rare feat in the realm of dark fantasy. Dead Harvest blends backstory just wrenching enough, victims just pitiable enough, villains just ambiguous enough to keep everything on the thrummingly interesting side of noir, never bogging down in cliche. And the white-knuckle action is an indulgent pleasure – this book practically turns its own pages. The best books combine the smart with the careening, and Holm does that so well.”
– Sophie Littlefield, award-winning author of Aftertime

“Many writers are capable of creating a fantasy world, but there are only a few who have the gift of making us believe in it… Dark fantasy? Horror fiction? An occult mystery? Dead Harvest is all of those. Making it a hard book to categorize. But an even harder one to put down.”
– Leighton Gage, author of the Chief Inspector Mario Silva series

“The fight between heaven and hell takes a turn for the hardboiled in Chris F. Holm’s fantastic debut novel, Dead Harvest, where he’s created a character as pulpy and tough as anything Chandler or Hammett dreamed up in his doomed Soul Collector. Holm’s writing is sharp, powerful, and packs a wallop.”
– Stephen Blackmoore, author of City of the Lost

“The breakneck pace of the narrative, and the world Holm creates, make for a thrillingly brutal ride.”
– SFX Magazine

“[Dead Harvest] promises to mess with your perception of unseen realities … this one goes looking for the lines so it can jump over them, gleefully mixes it’s genre ingredients and plays with Sunday School and horror tropes in equal measure without feeling derivative.”
– Jedidiah-Ayres, B&N Mystery Blog

“Chris F. Holm’s genre-transmogrifying debut, Dead Harvest, is among the most adventurous crime titles to appear this year. It’s sort of a supernatural hit-man story, with a wrong-guy, lovers-on-the-run, end-of-the-world, action sci-fi twist — an ambitious mash-up that twists, contorts, recasts, and revives umpteen different archetypes. The only thing crazier than Holm’s vision is the fact that he actually pulls it off.”
– Cullen Gallagher, L. A. Review of Books

“With a candid style that exhibits solid confidence and finesse, Chris Holm pulls readers in and pins us to the edge of our seats with a cleverly conceived story that is flawlessly executed.”
– Renee Fountain, New York Journal of Books / BookFetish.org

“A war is brewing between angels and demons in this twisty, fast-paced, and thoroughly enjoyable urban fantasy debut.”
– Publishers Weekly

“…a triumphant debut that felt like the book I’d been waiting on for years without knowing it.”
– R. Thomas Brown. Spinetingler Magazine

“Chris F. Holm delivers everything you want from a hard boiled writer. His heroes are world weary professionals stuck in a corrupt world of their own action, if not their own making. The plotting is clean and intricate, and the world is heightened with breathtaking action. It’s the true emotion that he brings to the world that makes it real and makes him an author to get to know.”
– Mystery People

“Fans of the Harry Dresden series and those who like their modern-day fantasy with a twist of hardboiled detective story will love this (as will fans of Good Omens and In Nomine).”
– Ed Fortune

“Dead Harvest is a phenomenal debut novel with a cracking plot and amazing characters, easily the best one I’ve read so far of this year’s crop and it has set the bar high for those who are to follow!”
– Mieneke van der Salm, A Fantastical Librarian

“In a crowded world of Urban Fantasy, it’s difficult to make an impression amongst the many, many tales out there. However, as far as urban fantasy goes, this is one of the most assured debuts I’ve read since first reading Jim Butcher’s first Dresden.”
– Mark Yon, SFFWorld.com

“Holm takes a pinch of fantasy, a little supernatural, a dash of hardboiled crime fiction, and blends them into a pitch-perfect adventure in a way that is nothing short of authorial alchemy.”
– Elizabeth A. White

“Dead Harvest was just a pleasure to read, through and through.”
– My Bookish Ways

“Dead Harvest does not feel like a debut. Chris F. Holm’s writing is assured and the world building is outstanding. The story is fast-paced with several well-done action scenes. The mystery kept me guessing … The Collector series is on my must buy list.”
– The Qwillery

“This is an action packed book with a story line that powers along. The secondary characters are well written and unique and I really had no idea how this one was going to pan out.”
– Just One More Page

“Dead Harvest is exactly what the urban fantasy genre needs. It’s an action-packed thrill ride that blends elements of the best urban fantasy, pulp crime, and adventure novels have to offer … Highest Possible Recommendation”
– The Debut Review

“Not since reading John Connolly’s debut novel Every Dead Thing have I encountered a writer’s debut that so successfully combines crime fiction and the supernatural.”
– House of Crime and Mystery

“Plenty of action, plenty of violence, with at least one supernatural femme fatale and a story that keeps you on your toes and turning the page until the denouement.”
– Morpheus Tales Supplement, issue #16

“Dead Harvest is a great story. Original, fascinating and absorbing from the onset, it captures the reader and describes an interesting supernatural world that sits alongside our own. If you like supernatural ‘who-dunnits’ then this is the book for you.”
– Craig Knight, The British Fantasy Society

“An engaging novel that quickly pulls you in, Dead Harvest has one of the most interesting and unique takes on an ages old conflict of biblical proportions. Not to be missed.”
– Shadowhawk, The Founding Fields

“Chris Holm’s debut novel … is a stunning story of good versus evil. Dead Harvest can also claim wonderfully rich characters scampering around in a complex and fast-moving plot. It’s a visual story that thunders through the imagination. I absolutely loved his depiction of this other dimension, a world colliding unknowingly with our own. He convinced me it’s there and I can’t wait to read more!”
– Jen’s Book Thoughts

“Dead Harvest is a wonderfully written dark, urban fantasy with a generous helping of noir that grabs you by the soul and doesn’t let go until the final satisfying conclusion.” – Scenes and Sequels